Walker shortlisted twice for Bookseller marketing competition

Two campaigns from Walker Books are on the shortlist for this year’s BooksellerChildren’s Marketing Competition, along with initiatives from Hachette Children’s, Macmillan Children’s...

Two campaigns from Walker Books are on the shortlist for this year’s BooksellerChildren’s Marketing Competition, along with initiatives from Hachette Children’s, Macmillan Children’s Books, Simon and Schuster Children’s and Little Tiger Press.

The winners will be announced at the The Bookseller Children’s Conference at Milton Court, Barbican in London tomorrow (29th September), where head of marketing Sophia Blackwell will announce one winner and two runners-up. They will all win advertising spend in The Bookseller.

Walker is shortlisted for its marketing of I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson and Anthony Horowitz’s ’15 Years of Anthony Horowitz’ promotion, both submitted by trade marketing manager Jo Humphreys-Davies.

Also on the shortlist are: Hachette Children’s for its work on All Fall Down by Ally Carter (submitted by marketing executive Laure Pernette); Macmillan Children’s Books for Moone Boy, The Blunder Years by Chris O’Dowd and Nick Vincent Murphy (submitted by marketing manager Kat McKenna); Simon and Schuster for Hamish and the WorldStoppers by Danny Wallace (submitted by marketing and publicity director Elisa Offord); and Little Tiger Press for its summer picture book promotion (submitted by marketing and publicity officer Jessie Sullivan).

“We thoroughly enjoyed judging the competition and were excited and inspired by their blend of inventiveness, agility and fun,” said Blackwell. “The judging panel were also impressed by these publishers’ commitment to new channels and approaches and to communicating the appeal of their books to the widest possible groups.”

The competition was open to any marketing campaign conducted by children’s publishers between 1st September 2014 and 1st August 2015.

Along with Blackwell, the judges for the competition were Fiona Noble, Children’s Previews Editor; Kiera O’Brien, Charts and Data Editor; Emma Lowe, Head of Publisher Relations; and Corinne Gotch, freelance publicist.

At the Children’s Conference, delegates will be asked to vote for the audience’s favourite from the remaining three shortlisted campaigns via Twitter using the hashtag #kidsconf15.

The Audience Award will be announced the day after the conference and the winner will receive £500 advertising spend with The Bookseller. Twitter votes for the Audience Award will be accepted from Children’s Conference delegates only.